Alva Stråge
Assistant Head of Department
Department of Philosophy, Linguistics, Theory of ScienceResearcher
Department of Philosophy, Linguistics, Theory of ScienceAbout Alva Stråge
I received my PhD 2019 at Gothenburg University. In my dissertation "Minds, Brains, and Desert: on the relevance of neuroscience for retributive punishment" I discuss how neuroscientific descriptions of human thinking and behavior are relevant for how society, and specifically the legal system, views people's ability to choose and how this ability is connected to desert, blame, and punishment. This debate is part of a more fundamental philosophical discussion about whether moral judgments presuppose free will (e.g., can I do wrong if I cannot choose?), whether free will can exist in a determined world, and if so, what it means to have free will.
Research
Between 2024 and 2027 I work as a researcher in the research project Free Will Foundations: Metaethical and Methodological Underpinnings of Free Will Theories, funded by the Swedish Research Council, together with Ragnar Francén (University of Gothenburg, PI), Manuel Vargas (UC San Diego) and Gunnar Björnsson (Stockholm University).
Between 2025 and 2028 I am affiliated with the research projekt The SPARK Study: Systematic Screening to Detect and Prevent Suicide among Adolescents in School Settings funded by FORTE, with Carl Wikberg (Västra Götalandsregionen) as the Principal Investigator.